Since coming to Washington, there have been several times when it felt like I was banging my head against the wall in frustration. One of those times was during the recent, senseless government shutdown.

Last Friday at midnight, the entire federal government shutdown after the Senate failed to pass a bill to continue government funding. The bizarre thing was that Democrats did not disagree with a single provision in the bill. Instead, Senate Democrats wanted a provision included in the bill to effectively grant amnesty to individuals in our country illegally under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Regardless of what is dominating the news cycle on any given day, the economy is always an issue on the minds of hardworking Alabamians. The ability to get and keep a job in order to provide for your family is so important. That is why the President, Congress, and local leaders in Alabama have made growing the economy a top priority.

There is a lot of exciting news happening on the economic front both nationally and locally. America’s economy is growing faster than even analysts could predict. Alabama is one of thirteen states that have reached a record low unemployment rate, the stock market is at an all-time high, and the U.S. dollar continues to climb.Read More

Last week, we recapped major highlights from the past year, so this week I want to look ahead at some of the important things to watch for in 2018.

2018 is an election year, and the midterm elections for all House members and the one-third of the United States Senate will be held in November. I expect a very busy legislative session in the run-up to the midterms.

Monday, December 11, 2017, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Roy Moore held a “Drain the Swamp rally” in Midland just 13 hours before Alabama voters go to the polls to decide whether they want to vote for Moore or Democrat Doug Jones to be their senator, replacing Jeff Sessions (R) who vacated the seat to become U.S. attorney general.

“We are not going to stand by and let people from out of state and California control this election,” Judge Roy Moore said. “Three years before I was born, 1944, America was in crisis. We were at war with Adolph Hitler and the armies of Nazi Germany.” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said on the radio that many would die in that war; but we had faith. Three years later I was born. “In the 1960s, we started to forget God and we started to forget where our strength comes from.”

A German delegation made a stop in Montgomery on Wednesday, part of a multi-state visit to try and ensure future automotive business between the two countries.

That business is particularly important to both Alabama and the German state of Baden-Württemberg, where Dr. Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut serves as minister of economic affairs, labour and housing. Hoffmeister-Kraut led the delegation on visits to Alabama, California and Washington D.C.

Most people are familiar with the phrase, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” but the context from which the thought is drawn is seldom mentioned. In a series of letters, Lord Acton argues that kings and clergy should be judged by the same standards as everyone else. In the same paragraph as his most famous quote, Lord Acton also writes, “There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.”

Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (D) asked President Donald Trump to pardon him on the Fox Business Network’s show Cavuto Coast to Coast.

Siegelman was convicted in 2006 of bribery charges. His conviction rests upon a $500,000 donation from HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy to the non profit Alabama Education Foundation, which was an entity created to fund and support a statewide referendum on an Alabama Education Lottery.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017, Women Vote Trump, the largest female run PAC founded in 2016 to support Donald Trump for President, announced that they have endorsed Congressman Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) for Senate in Alabama.

Women Vote Trump issued a statement expressing their disappointment with President’s endorsement in the Alabama Senate race and suggested that Trump may have done the endorsement due to a deal with controversial Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).

There is no greater responsibility of the Federal government than to provide for the safety and security of the American people. I have found myself making this point over and over again throughout my short time in Congress.

With the wide range of issues under debate here in Washington, some of my colleagues seem to forget that our most basic responsibility as outlined in the Constitution is to “provide for the common defense” of the American people.Read More

An article published by The Alabama Political Reporter (APR) has drawn fire from campaign operatives for freshman Senator Luther Strange and his attorney at his old law firm, Bradley Arrant.

An email containing a letter from Bradley partner Joseph B. Mays, Jr., was received by APR on June 30, in which he demands, “…removal and retraction of false and libelous statements in an article on your website titled, ‘Source: State Rep. Offered Superfund Bribe with Strange Present.'”Read More